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There are acts of kindness and then there are acts that touch the heart of a nation.

Elijah Porter and the soccer medal he offered to the Canadian men's relay team. (PHOTO COURTESY KIM PORTER)

Elijah Porter's letter to the Canadian 4x100 men's relay team.

Jared Connaughton, front, Justyn Warner, right, and Oluseyi Smith react following the 4x100 metre relay. The team thought it had won bronze, only to be disqualified. (Ryan Remiorz / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

Sprinters Justyn Warner and Jared Connaughton celebrate a bronze medal that was denied the Canadian relay team after it was ruled that Connaughton had illegally stepped on a line.
(STEVE RUSSELL / TORONTO STAR) | Order this photo

By Eddie LeeToronto Star

Wed., Aug. 15, 2012

Denied an Olympic bronze medal through a surreal disqualification process, Canada’s men’s relay team is getting a replacement that may be more valuable.

That’s because this one comes from the heart.

After watching the devastating way the sprinters’ dreams were crushed in London, Elijah Porter felt compelled to lift their spirits.

So the 10-year-old wrote a letter that he hoped would “touch their hearts.” He then added the only medal he has ever won as a token of his unwavering support.

“When I heard what happened on Aug. 11, I knew it was wrong. The rules were not right. But at last I realized how good you were. We’re Canadians. We persevere,” wrote Porter.

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“We create better lives for each other. The cold didn’t stop us from living in the North. We didn’t lose the War of 1812. We adapt and survive.”

And, “I hope you like the medal!”

Leave it to a boy from Paradise, Nfld., to capture the essence of sacrifice, humanity and the Canadian spirit.

Porter has Asperger’s syndrome and is home-schooled by his mom, Kim. He doesn’t write a lot of letters. But he composed this one himself, with an occasional spell check from mom.

And that medal? Won as a four-year-old, when he played Timbits soccer. It used to hang proudly with dad Steve’s medal collection.

“It’s just a Tim Hortons’ medal but I thought it was better than making a medal out of paper,” said Porter.

According to Athletics Canada, thousands of messages of support have been received by the relay team. Only one promised a replacement.

“I saw all the people were crying and realized how much it meant to them. I thought it would make them feel better if they got something,” said Porter.

Justyn Warner, the Canadian 100-metre champion, was last seen by most Canadians walking away from the Olympic track, tears cascading down his cheeks, being comforted by his fiancée, hurdler www.durhamregion.com%2Fsports%2Folympics%2Farticle%2F1457010--pickering-hurdler-nikkita-holder-sees-olympics-end-in-semifinals&ei=aOYqUKiYHYezyAHNu4DICg&usg=AFQjCNE71Bd7Oum4FQHeEb9Z-xAjfmCPUA" target="_blank">Nikkita Holder.

For Canadians, it’s one of the lasting images from the Games: the men’s relay team disqualified after “seven minutes” of “the best feeling ever,” according to Warner.

“From tears to tears.”

Canada’s 4x100 relay team raced to third place, behind the powerhouse Jamaican and U.S. squads, but was disqualified minutes later when it was ruled that Jared Connaughton, running the third leg, had stepped on a lane line going around the bend of the track.

Sitting at the airport in Dusseldorf, Germany, Warner saw the image of Porter’s letter posted on Twitter by Athletics Canada and re-tweeted it for the world to see.

“We were all talking about how amazing it was what he wrote, handwritten,” said Warner.

“It’s awesome that he felt that it’s not over, that we could still fight to get back in it.”

Porter didn’t stop there. He also promised that if he becomes a biologist and gets rich, he’ll donate money to Canada’s Olympians in the future.

As for the present, he just keeps asking his mom if she’s mailed the letter yet, which she promises to do as soon as she gets a chance.

She did email the image to Athletics Canada and, through social media, captured the attention of Canada’s track team and thousands of newly inspired Canadian fans.

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